2013 British Grand Prix review

On the first day of running at Silverstone the Formula One community assembled beneath the podium beside a portrait of Mark Robinson, the Canadian marshal who died in the aftermath of the previous round while Esteban Gutierrez’s car was being recovered.

Despite the efforts of all involved in motor racing to make it safer there is and will always be a degree of risk for competitors, circuit workers and spectators. A spate of explosive tyre failures at high speed during today’s British Grand Prix rammed that message home, and the sport should consider itself lucky nobody was hurt.

Tyre drama

Eight laps into today’s race came the first indication that Perez’s problem had not been a one-off. Lewis Hamilton had converted his second pole position into the lead and was edging away from Sebastian Vettel’s pursuing Red Bull.

But as he headed down the Wellington Straight, where speeds exceed 280kph (174mph), his left-rear tyre disintegrated, forcing Vettel to take avoiding action. The implications of Hamilton’s disaster were just beginning to sink in when, two laps later, Felipe Massa spun off the track at turn four, his left-rear tyre also destroyed.

Ferrari wasted no time summoning Fernando Alonso into the pits where they discovered one of his tyres was also on the verge of a potentially catastrophic failure. “For me it was the right rear that I think was new compared to all the other failures and if this happened like Felipe ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ that I think was in turn five when it happened ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ then I lose the race,” he said. “For me it happened in the last corner and I pit.”

Most drivers hurried into the pits by lap 12. One who didn’t was Jean-Eric Vergne, who was now running in sixth place ahead of the two Lotuses. Unlike most drivers he had started on the hard tyre, and those who had suffered failures had all been on the softer compound.

But on lap 14, as he touched 300kph at the end of the Hangar straight, Vergne’s left-rear let go. As the tyre tore itself to pieces it showered the pursuing Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean with debris.

This third failure drove race director Charlie Whiting to summon the Safety Car and neutralise the field. He later admitted he considered red-flagging the race to get the situation under control.

“You’ve got to stay off the kerbs”

While the drivers trailled the Safety Car the teams took the chance to report back on the condition of the tyres they had just taken off.

Red Bull told Vettel they had found cuts on the medium compound tyres he started the race on, which had also been used during qualifying. “You’ve got to stay off the kerbs,” urged race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin.

Behind Vettel was Nico Rosberg, who’d made a sluggish getaway from second at the start and fallen behind the Red Bull.

But that was nothing compared to Mark Webber’s troubles. Afflicted by another of his poor starts he had been swamped by his rivals. Glancing contact with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus left Webber’s front wing askew and it wasn’t fixed until his first pit stop. Before that he’d fallen as low as 14th, but had been able to pass both Saubers plus Jenson Button’s McLaren.

Behind Rosberg were Adrian Sutil and Alonso’s Ferrari. The latter had overtaken Grosjean on lap two then jumped the other Lotus of Raikkonen along with Daniel Ricciardo during his pit stop.

Heartbreak for Vettel

The race resumed on lap 22. By this time there had been three major failures in fourteen racing laps and it was hard to imagine there not being any more over the course of the remaining thirty.

The sense of foreboding about the potential for another failure was not eased by the obvious fact that several drivers were not keeping off the kerbs as instructed.

One of them, despite his team mate’s failure and his own near-miss, was Alonso. He was not convinced the kerbs were to blame: “It?óÔé¼Ôäós hard to believe that the kerbs were the problem because we?óÔé¼Ôäóve been racing here for 12 years with those kerbs”, he said afterwards. Besides which, he had Vettel in sight and was anxious not to lose any further ground.

Rosberg’s experience seemed to validate Alonso’s point of view: “I was staying off the kerbs and I got a tyre problem myself,” he explained. Mercedes had warned him the warmer temperatures of the race together with the kerbs might be causing the problem.

“But it worked out well,” Rosberg added. “I was able to pit before it broke apart because the safety car came out. I was a bit lucky there.”

He certainly was. Rosberg was just over three seconds behind Vettel when he felt his left-rear tyre going off. But he was saved on lap 41 by the only surprise of the race that had nothing to do with tyres.

Vettel looked untroubled in the lead of the race until his gearbox, in its third race, failed to select fifth gear. It then failed completely and the RB9 rolled to a stop on the pit straight.

The Safety Car was summoned for a second time so the car could be removed safely. This was a major relief for Rosberg, who dived into the pits as the race was neutralised and got a ‘free’ pit stop onto fresh tyres.

But had Vettel intended to time his retirement to cause maximum inconvenience to his closest championship rival he couldn’t have done better. Alonso had just made his final pit visit, and the field compression behind the Safety Car saw him drop from third to eighth.

Webber chases Rosberg home

The second Safety Car period dragged on while the rigmarole of letting backmarkers unlap themselves was performed.

That done, Rosberg resume in the lead chased by a trio of drivers who had not put fresh tyres on while the Safety Car was out: Raikkonen, Sutil and Ricciardo. Raikkonen queried the decision with his team on the radio but was told the opportunity had already been missed.

A well-timed second pit stop for Webber followed by a precautionary return visit under the Safety Car saw him occupy fifth. The two McLarens had stayed out and were sixth and seventh, followed by Alonso.

Having fallen to last place after his puncture, Hamilton had clawed his way back up to eighth with a 28-lap stint on hard tyres. He had changed his rubber just five laps before the Safety Car came out, so Mercedes elected not to bring him in again.

Over the final six-lap sprint those with fresher tyres swiftly dispensed with the cars in front of them. The tyre advantage alone was probably sufficient to tip the balance, and the two DRS zones served to ensure their rivals had no hope of defending.

Webber took Raikkonen, Sutil and Ricciardo on consecutive laps, so that with five laps to go he had Rosberg’s leading Mercedes in his sights, the pair separated by 1.3 seconds.

Alonso picked off Button at the restart. As they reached the Hangar straight he was lining up Perez for the same treatment when the McLaren driver suffered his second tyre failure of the weekend. It was a nasty shock for both drivers: Alonso swerved right to avoid the wounded McLaren and its tyre debris.

Hamilton arrived on Alonso’s tail and the pair easily overhauled Ricciardo, Sutil and Raikkonen. “We should have called Kimi in to save at least one position and make the podium,” admitted team principal Eric Boullier afterwards. “Unfortunately, we made the wrong call for which we apologise to Kimi and to the team.”

At the head of the field Rosberg and Webber traded fastest laps until the end. Webber set the best time on the final tour, but fell short of his rival by seven tenths of a second at the chequered flag.

Rosberg’s victory and the performance of Hamilton’s car would probably have attracted greater comment had it not been for the series of tyre failures. The team which finished 68 seconds behind the leaders in Spain, then conducted a controversial clandestine test for Pirelli at the track, were in much better shape on F1’s return to a ‘high aero’ venue.

The two Sauber drivers also experienced tyre problems: Hulkenberg had a slow puncture and Gutierrez had a left-front tyre failure which resulted in front wing damage. He slipped to 14th behind the two Williams drivers and Button. The McLaren driver lost tyre temperature after the final Safety Car period and was passed by six drivers in as many laps.

The Caterhams and Marussias were the last cars running. Grosjean picked up front wing damage – “we don?óÔé¼Ôäót know if it was caused by some debris or something to do with the fact that it was a new part” – and retired in the pits.

Time for action

The late appearance of the Safety Car meant a race that had been marred by a string of embarrassing and potentially dangerous tyre failures ended on something of a high. But the images of multiple drivers suffering tyre explosions will be of grave concern to those in the sport – above all Pirelli.

“Anyway, we?óÔé¼Ôäóre part of the package, part of the show. The show goes on by the looks of it.” Webber, who announced this weekend he will leave F1 at the end of the year, added: “It?óÔé¼Ôäós not December yet, so I?óÔé¼Ôäóll stay quiet.”

With the German Grand Prix coming up this weekend there is little time for those in charge to get to the bottom of what’s gone wrong. Formula One took a huge gamble at Silverstone and got away with it. Next time it might not be so fortunate.

To avoid further embarrassment and risk the teams, the governing body and Pirelli will need to work together and act swiftly. But these are two things they have demonstrated little capacity for in the preceding months of bickering and politicking over F1’s tyres.

77 comments on Rosberg lucks in to victory as tyre failures wreak havoc with race

I think the race had lots of up and down moments. What really concerns me is that the german gp is next week and Pirelli doesn’t have much time in terms of investigating the tire troubles and how to correct them. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again.

Why on earth do the F1 officials and drivers, as there teams still use Pirelli???? Kick the sods out, the tyres are useless, and at some time or other going to cause a disaster! Let everyteam choose its own tyre manufactura, and after a couple of races we are going to see who can make the best tyres. As our former coment said. Pirelli are going to MURDER someone!!

To avoid further embarrassment and risk the teams, the governing body and Pirelli will need to work together and act swiftly. But these are two things they have demonstrated little capacity for in the preceding months of bickering and politicking over F1â€²s tyres.

As the famous saying goes, any publicity is good publicity..I cant see that being the case for Pirelli. They are in F1 to sell tyres, however, the product seems to be disintegrating in front of the very audience they are pitching to.

Is it Pirelli’s fault? Or is it the incessant complaints from certains quraters that have stronghanded Pirelli to make these changes?

This is pathetic. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, at least we all have been led to believe it is, but they cant even get a bunch of tyres right? The likes of Indycar, WEC, etc must be laughing at F1 just now. F1 is better than this. There are too many issues like this that make a mockery out of this sport. Whats the biggest problem? The people that run the sport are only interested in money..thats why.

IMO Hamilton can still win the WDC. He’s 43 points behind Vettel, sure, but Alonso came back from 47 points in 2010. Lewis only needs 3.6 points more per race to outscore Sebastian. Hell, even Rosberg is a solid bet for WDC outsider.

Why? Because if Silverstone is anything to go by, Mercedes are capable of doing so. The MGP-004 is by far the best qualifying car on the grid, and is as fast as anyone out there on race day. It’s also solid in the rain, and has improved the tyre usage a lot.

Indeed. Lewis was unfortunate at home but he leaves Silverstone with positive sensations, he seems more comfortable in the car and showed incredible pace on Saturday giving no options to his closest rivals: Nico and Seb.

If he manages to keep his quali form and Mercedes rear tyres deg is just fine on Sundays, he can win at least 4 races this year. Then he can add some solid podium finishes. Plus, Nico and Ferraris do can beat Red Bulls, preventing Seb from running away with consecutive wins.

It might be soon for that, but it looks like a four drivers affair, and neither of them is Kimiâ€¦ unless Lotus finds their mojo again. I think both Lewis and Nico will finish ahead of him.

Don’t forget that Merc will miss the next test. And it’s quite likely that it won’t be the young driver’s test after all, but a full-on tyre test with current cars, current drivers and current tyres. So the advantage they have might suddenly disappear.

The deg problem was their own issue to resolve – it wasn’t a performance thing. Not running in the YDT/whatever will prevent them improving the car and trying out new things, but they certainly won’t lose any pace or tyre-management information they currently have.

I personally don’t think LH and NR are WDC potential drivers this year. They obviously still have tire deg issues with LH’s blowout, and the fact that NR likely was saved by safety cars from having the same thing happen to him. Yeah I know other drivers had blowouts too, but not everyone, so I think relatively speaking, and in a more normal race without the attrition and the tire blowouts and safety cars, this would have been another SV win, with very possibly MW in second, and we wouldn’t be talking about Mercedes ‘gains’ from a tire test that many keep insisting means they are now top contenders. I think they still have big issues with tires and are only looking as good as they are because Ferrari and Lotus aren’t currently as big a threat as they should be right now, and appeared to be at the start of the season.

@joshgeake, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder whether Ross Brawn has the cheek to suggest it.

Depending on how Pirelli might act, there might not be any need for a test with regular drivers. It seems the teams are eager to sideline their young drivers, though, in favor of more running with their race drivers whether there is a need to or not. So it’s not only Sam Bird who is the victim of the Mercedes test, but all young drivers!

So can we now agree that perhaps Pirelli and Mercedes were not trying something underhanded by using their primary drivers in 2013 cars for the Pirelli tire test, but were in fact doing something necessary, as Pirelli had stated was the case for optimum data gathering.

Pirelli and FIA should have cited safety issues before all this. Imho it was always laughable for anyone to suggest that delaminations but no deflations equalled ‘safe’. If Pirelli had admitted safety concerns from the getgo, much less politics would have been there to overshadow the whole issue. That is why early on after we heard post-Monaco about the Pirelli tire test I assumed and argued the test must have been necessary and permissable due to safety concerns or Mercedes would not have done it. But FIA and Pirelli chose not to fall back on the word ‘safety’.

I would not have been surprised to see the race red flagged. Especially since it was not likely to discover the actual cause of the tire explosions during the race. Or, the remedy. Charlie Whiting said later he almost did red flag the race. Formula 1 has come too far with its safety measures over the years to now resort to luck during a running race or another race in the near future. It is very fortunate there was no injury or worse during the British Grand Prix. The FIA have requested Pirelli and the teams meet before the German Grand Prix next week. Hopefully more facts are known by then and a safe solution is available.

The drivers showed a lot of courage to keep racing while knowing there was a danger beyond the usual risks taken every time they get in the car. My favorite race car driver of all time is Jim Clark. The racing world still misses him. All forms of racing have made great strides in safety to make a dangerous sport less dangerous. Real race fans don’t want to see injury and destruction. Eliminating known risks is the easiest way to increase safety. Formula 1 now has a known risk. What will be done?

I suppose a serious look at the F1 tyre regulations and rules from top to bottom would be a start. If I were the CEO of Pirelli, I’d wake up every Sunday with a loaded pistol next to the tube. Pirelli is in an impossible no win situation with F1 desires and requirements.

Rosberg’s had enough bad luck that he doesn’t need to feel sheepish about this win. However, he had amazing fortune in the race. And I’m sure he knows that this was a race where he was outclassed by Hamilton. It’s great to watch these two trade body blows from race to race. They are raising each others’ games. After a few races where people were wondering what’s happened to Hamilton, he comes back storming. I predict that Rosberg will dominate Germany.

I think it’s also worth pausing to note a second consecutive goose egg for McLaren. When was their last consecutive non-points finishes? Sometime in the dark days of 2009? Maybe expectations for them are already so low that it’s not worth a mention even by those with F1 history omniscience like Keith.

@fer-no65
Completely agree with you. It’s changing the race in an artificial way.
If for example the leader has lapped a car or two and they’re between the leader and 2nd placed driver, how does it make any sense that the 2nd placed driver won’t need to lap them since they’ll be allowed to unlap themselves during the SC period. It means that the leader has taken a risk lapping another car and lost time behind that car while the others don’t need to deal with that situation.

I don’t remember in this situation where Chilton was, but this rule is just one big fail.

It’s a risk that always there when you’re lapping a slower car, as a backmarker he should of course let whoever is behind through when the SC comes in. I always preferred the old SC rules, no unlapping and no delta times.

Great comment, and I agree completely. Having the SC out for those extra few laps robbed the spectators in the stands and viewers at home of a lap or two more of fantastic racing, and for no real gain for anyone.

For example, imagine Vettel was about to lap the whole field Schumacher-style, with Hamilton 2nd and Alonso 3rd in a close battle. Vettel laps Alonso and is just about to lap Hamilton but then the safety car comes out. The outcome? Hamilton will get to gain back a lap, Alonso won’t and instead of being one second behind Hamilton he will now be almost a lap behind. Would that be nice???

@oel-f1 that’s not ideal but it hardly happens ! And if the entire field lost a lap, it’s their problem ! why are frontrunners kept away from a chance of victory because the slowest cars of thefield lost a lap and they are given way to recover them?

Er what? With backmarkers between the leader and the second placed car it will surely mean than the leader gets an advantage, especially in the old days of lasting tyres because it will take longer to lap the backmarkers. Or it can easily affect things in another way, just remember Singapore 2010 when I think di Grassi held Webber up so Hamilton could attack him, was that fair?

I know the current situation isn’t ideal as it takes a bit longer. But hell, one lap more or less behind the safety car, what difference does it make? Actually it might be a good thing as the leader will have one lap less to defend, as compensation of the big gap built up before the safety car came out (no guarantee that is the case of course).

With backmarkers between the leader and the second placed car it will surely mean than the leader gets an advantage, especially in the old days of lasting tyres because it will take longer to lap the backmarkers. Or it can easily affect things in another way, just remember Singapore 2010 when I think di Grassi held Webber up so Hamilton could attack him, was that fair?

Agreed as well: I don’t like backmarkers affecting the battle up front but honestly I think allowing them to unlap themselves affects the race more than just ending the safety car period a lap earlier.

Not that I care all that much though considering the failures, as none of the top 3 should’ve won anyway…

Over the final six-lap sprint those with fresher tyres swiftly dispensed with the cars in front of them. The tyre advantage alone was probably sufficient to tip the balance, and the two DRS zones served to ensure their rivals had no hope of defending.

I get the feeling, @keithcollantine, that you’re somehow bored with how things are going at the moment. Tyre failures, enormous DRS zones, long Safety Car periods, and so on…

I believe F1 is appealing more to the causal racing fan.It reminds me of some video games of the 90’s where explosions looked like rainbows just to showcase and justify the investment on a 3d card. I am a fan of both Le Mans / F1. Less and less of F1 as time goes by. If teams like Williams and Macca decided to build LMP1 cars, F1 would be less and less appealing.

I think the kerbs were the reason for the tyre failures, but thats not to say the kerbs were defective… I think with the heat and heavy fuel loads, when the tyres hit kurbs at high speeds they just couldn’t handle it.
With the Nurburghring coming up, which has it’s fair share of high speed corners and long straights i fear there will be failures yet again, but maybe less in number

“Over the final six-lap sprint those with fresher tyres swiftly dispensed with the cars in front of them. The tyre advantage alone was probably sufficient to tip the balance, and the two DRS zones served to ensure their rivals had no hope of defending.”

The perfect description of the “good part” of the race. This race was not only a farce – it was dangerous.

I can complain about the ending and I have. Tyre concerns and the two DRS zones gave the sensation of a remarkable finish but I think the ending was actually rather shallow – not much racing but a lot of artificial advantages.

As ever, it’s because there were unpredictable failures that the race became vaguely entertaining.

It was bizarre in the opening stages when tyres kept blowing. Then it became predictable (which is fine) but also uncompetitve (which is not). Then a gearbox dies, a load of cars get new tyres and there’s a sprint to the finish. Thank goodness for the sprint, otherwise the only interesting thing really would have been those tyres blowing.

Here’s an idea – why not have more sprints in F1? Oh yeah, they killed that when they took out refuelling. Could they do it on these tyres anyway? No. Are we just in for a repeat at the ‘Ring? Probably.

I’ll put my name on the line now and say that apart from the unpredictable blown tyres, crashes and retirements, there will be nothing interesting next weekend.

Oh and one last thing – since when has Silverstone been such a ‘great’ track? I remember it becoming near forgettable after those changes in ’87-’88.

why not have more sprints in F1? Oh yeah, they killed that when they took out refuelling.

In-race refuelling did not create the kind of circumstances we saw in the last six laps at Silverstone. it gave us processions of drivers not bothering to overtake because they were saving fuel to stretch their stint out a lap or two longer and jump their rivals at the next pit stops

If anything the refuelling ban helped create the conditions we saw at the end of the race at Silverstone. Because of the two safety car periods drivers had a surplus of fuel – Vettel was told to burn off excess fuel during the first safety car period.

Therefore drivers did not have to worry about fuel conservation towards the end of the race and could push flat-out. Had they been making stops to refuel there would have been an incentive to leave the cars light on fuel at the end of the race, so that six-lap sprint you enjoyed might not have happened.

I beg to differ the only real race in the last 6 laps was between Rosberg and Webber all others were just passing people on older tyres.
I seem to remember you replying to my post when I said Mercs have made progress from the 3 day test that they used to @drop like stones in races” and you said Silverstone would be acid test are you ready to admit that now?

I’m getting concerned in the direction F1 is taking. It is clearly going for “entertainment value”, however, when does the sport turn from a serious sport into something akin of WWE, where everything is staged for entertainment value?

Take the tyre delaminations aside for a moment, and I know I’m asking a lot, because in their own right they deserve a full investigation. However, the more I read on these forums, the more I’m starting to see that people want all races to come down to last 10 laps, and for 2 or more drivers to have a chance at the victory.

My concern is, that I believe that sport is designed to show who is the best in their field, in F1, that has traditionally been the one with the best driver, engine, tyre, personnel, and development package, the fact that Schumacher, Ferrari, Bridgestone and Brawn were so dominant in the early 2000’s, well isn’t that deserved, through their sheer determination, whether you like them or not? Or the fact that Vettel, Newey, RBR are now so successful, isn’t that worthy of praise?

Instead I read multiple posts about how finger boy has done this, or done that… Then rate the race we saw yesterday as a 9 or 10 because after a safety car period in the last 10 laps we had 2 guys going at it at the end, and why can’t there be more of this?

Think about the core of what sport is about, it is sometime unpredictable, but it cannot always be unpredictable or that would in itself become predictable. There is nothing more boring in my eyes than watching NASCAR at Talledega, where they basically try and stay in the top 10 so that at the end, they have a chance of winning from 5 deep… It just doesn’t sit right with me.

Nope, you definitely heard that. I’m really starting to dislike Lotus right now: I’ve just been notified that they ran their car this weekend with the caption “#godsaveourtyres” on it. I hope everyone else realises this that is currently high on the Kimi hysteria.